All posts by Bob Cain

The article below is a blast from the past that was circulated the LAST time someone tried to decertify our union, but the facts contained in this article have not changed. We’ve worked under our 2nd contract, and now ready to negotiate our 3rd. Read on:

With our first contract coming due, it’s no surprise that the rumors are swirling about a possible attempt at decertifying our union may be getting underway. After all, what better way can the company erode our bargaining power?

After a four year battle to get our first contract, it’s understandable that some may feel apprehensive at going back to the bargaining table. This is especially true if you are one of the members who never attends union meetings, don’t visit your unions website, or Facebook page to have a more informed idea about what 304 does for you.

Regardless of what our union accomplishes, it will always be the last thing it failed to do that many members will remember. It’s always, “what have you done for me lately?”

We’ve had our contract twisted, ignored, and outright violated ever since we ratified it. Your union officers have fought a never ending battle, through three administrations, through the grievance process, arbitration, and the National Labor Relations Board in an effort to represent the membership and enforce our CBA.

When we ceased being Allegheny, there was a lot of uncertainty and fear. Many senior management decided to jump ship, and taking their place are the managers we now have, many of whom we remember as being some of the loudest pro-union voices in past organizing drives.

Harrison organizing had a profound effect on our managers, especially when Allegheny Energy, and their managers and supervisors were, and remain, rabidly anti-union.

These are the same people who withheld our variable pay and cost of living raises for over a year post merger, setting off a long battle that resulted in a $1.25 million dollar settlement paid out to our members. The same folks who play games with time cards to cheat members, just to see who would file a grievance and who wouldn’t. These are the same ones who fired an employee who had an accident and the union fought to have him reinstated.

The company can blame fear of the membership for voting to be represented by the UWUA, but that fear is nothing compared to the terror experienced by those who had sold their very souls to the company.

This fact is borne out by the actions of the people in charge at the plant. They make mountains out of mole hills, out of someone being a few minutes late, or how and when someone called off, or made a request for a day off. Any reason they could seize on so they could run up the chain of command and show our new owners how true blue they are; real team players, totally supporting the new regime.

Now the cycle is starting over. Our contract is coming due in 2018 (now 2022) and SOMEONE is trying to weaken our bargaining power with yet another decertification drive.

What are they thinking?

That’s easy to guess. They think that they have hired enough young, and to their way of thinking naiveté, employees to weaken union support and those staunch supporters in the union must be getting tired with all the infighting, rumor-mongering, and dirty tricks we’ve had to fight since ratifying our first (and second) contract.

We’ve been a union since 2010, but are still learning everyday how to BE a union. The company has actually helped us in this by pulling all the stupid, vindictive, and petty stunts they have pulled. They taught 304 one of the MOST important lessons, which is how to FIGHT for our members.

Now, the same people that played games with your timecards and cheated you out of your earnings, who no longer honored long standing past practice just to try to exert dominance over you, and nitpicked against union supporters, while at the same time feeding their rats, want you to believe that they can be trusted to be the sole arbiter of your working life.

Make no mistake, without a UNION; you are an “employee-at-will.”

This means you can be fired at anytime with no just cause, and if you don’t like the rules and policies then you are free to seek employment elsewhere.

Being UNION grants you specific rights and protects you if you exercise those rights. You have a special and unique legal status by being in a union. This is why corporations are spending BILLIONS to break  them.

We work for a company who is flirting with bankrupting one of its own subsidiaries in an attempt to survive. They have shuttered almost every plant they owned; including the ones acquired through the merger, and has shown what projects have priority by the ones the boast about. They shown a questionable commitment in continuing in the generation business.

It was always said that Allegheny was only attractive because of the transmission they owned, not the plants. It seems this has been proved to be true.

The tact the company is trying this time is, “decertify 304 and go with the IBEW.”

Make no mistake, if you vote to decertify your union, there will not be one to replace it. You will have offended every union supporter who fought to make us Utility Workers, and will learn the truth too late that the company’s real position is that NO UNION is a good union.

As far back as 2008, the committee responsible for organizing Harrison looked at both the IBEW and the UWUA. What we found was that being in the UWUA gave us more autonomy to run our Local as we see fit. We wanted to elect our officers, not have them appointed, and most of all we did not want to be in conflict with other trades unions who may come onsite as contractors.

This is not to say there is anything wrong with our union Brothers and Sisters in the IBEW, it’s just that we thought, and still do, that the Utility Workers is a better fit for us.

Ever since, the Utility Workers have justified that vote of confidence, even in the present political anti-union environment.

So take a hard look at the facts. Our union’s integrity is intact. You’ve been told the truth, at least the truth as we understood it at the time. It didn’t matter if that truth was good news or bad. When the union made mistakes, we admitted it, and when we won we were graceful, not boastful.

If you are offered a card for decertification, consider the hand offering it. Would you want that person as your boss?

Is the person the type to help a friend, or are they only for themselves.

Ask yourself if they have success in their life?

I may not know the shadowy agents circulating in our membership, but we know who they are working for and who will benefit from a decertification, and it’s NOT YOU!

Your union officers are all family men who give freely of their time in representing all of us. They have wives, children, and even grandchildren. They have house and car payments, they worry about their kids, have chores waiting for them after a hard days work.

They do what they do because 304 is something they believe in.

That’s what it is to be union, a belief in the goodness of each other.

Believe in each other

The way to strengthen our bargaining power doesn’t lie in which union we are with, it lays in our solidarity as a union.  It may sound corny, but YOU are THE UNION, and when we stick together as a united front we are invincible.

Written 06/27/2021

Nobody wants a union. Seems an odd statement to show up on any Local’s website; a bold, declarative statement that kicks open the mind of the reader and sparks the thought process of any sane union member. So let’s examine it!

Having a union means you have to pay dues, even though it’s a proven fact that union members earn almost 30% more in wages and benefits than unorganized, non-union workers. Union members are also more apt to have protected health and retirement benefits.

Having a union means that you have to attend union meetings, where some members too often whittle and fritter away the time arguing over things specific only to their department, or even worse, to just them. It’s easy to forget the important issues that get hashed out.

Having a union means you have to decide and vote on those fellow friends and co-workers who will lead your union, and in what capacity. They could be a steward, treasurer, trustee, or even the President. You have to show up and then pick and choose the unlucky devil, and then see them sentenced them to a thankless job filled with endless meetings with the company and members who don’t know the difference between a gripe and a grievance for three years!

So what having a UNION means is that you have the opportunity and responsibility of taking an active role in matters concerning your employment, your future, and for some that may be too much to ask or they may not appreciate the say being a union member affords them.

No, the truth is that nobody WANTS a union, that is until they NEED it! 

As Utility Workers, we are responsible for million of dollars of equipment that must run to provide a vital service to the communities and people we serve, and we work for one of the nation’s most powerful and influential business sectors in the American economy; the energy sector. They have layers upon layers of disposable executives and mid-level managers,  whole divisions of lawyers and lobbyists, and social, political, and business connections that form a solid shield of scapegoats that protects them from all responsibility or liability.

The rest of the workforce are simply tools the company use, and anybody who’s ever been in a technical trade knows that a bad mechanic always blames his tools. Like any tool, you are used until you break or a better tool comes along.

One of our Local’s biggest problems that many of us in the energy sector face is the huge turnover in people. Once one of the oldest worker demographic, we’ve been deluded with fresh young faces while seasoned and experienced workers retire. Not only does the knowledge and talent go with them, but so does he historical and mature intellect of that union member in matters concerning the company and union.

Soon, too few present members know of the struggles and issues that came before them and their are too few “old” members left to teach them.

For instance, they don’t fully understand the benefit of legal standing being a union member working under a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) affords them, nor do they understand that it’s every union member’s responsibility to enforce the CBA. Too many times union members see things they should bring to the attention of their union representative, but blow it off. Too many times union members hesitate to stand up and say something or file a grievance when faced with situations that violate the CBA. Too many times union members that do their job and the look out for the union’s interests are allowed to be single out as troublemakers with targets on their backs.

Unions love to talk about the old days, especially in West Virginia which has some of the most violent histories and colorful characters ever known. They brag how workers had to overcome violence, prejudice, and cultural barriers to convince the workers to unite for the common good. While they revel in the stories of past victories, unions have a blind spot for the lessons learned by their foes in business

Chambers of Commerce are more prevalent in cities all over our country, like union halls used to be,  because those in charge learned how to organize and unite. This gives them more resources to hire those to teach their front line managers how to concoct reasonable sounding lies, manipulate, and divide and conquer over their employees. They would readily agree that, “nobody needs a union.”

UWUA Local 304 is only a little over a decade old. We’re still evolving and maturing as a union members, but we’ll all get there together!

Read about UWUA Local 304’s journey to becoming YOUR union by clicking here!

It’s easy to sit back and complain and ask what your union dues actually do for you. The answer is even easier; your status as a union member gives you protected legal status under federal law.

Here is a brief rundown of some of the main laws that enshrine your rights as a union member:

1932 Norris–LaGuardia Act

• Stated that workers had a legal right to organize
• Made it more difficult to get injunctions against peaceful union activities

Before this act, union organizers, ,supporters, and sympathizers were labelled “Reds”, “agitators”, and were often harassed, beaten, and even killed for attempting to organize a union.

1935 National Labor Relations Act (or Wagner Act)

• Made it illegal for employers to discriminate based on union membership
• Established the National Labor Relations Board to investigate unfair labor practices
• Established a voting procedure for workers to certify a union as their bargaining agent
• Required employers to recognize certified unions and bargain with them in good faith 1938 FLSA
•   Banned many types of child labor
•    Established the first federal minimum wage (25 cents per hour)
• Established a standard 40-hour workweek
• Required that hourly workers receive overtime pay when they work in excess of 40 hours per week

This is the Act that gave unions the “teeth” to protect their members by providing a legal framework to address grievances and a legal remedy that hold employers accountable to he membership.

1947 Labor–Management Relations (Taft-Hartley) Act

• Identified unfair labor practices by unions and declared them illegal
• Allowed employers to speak against unions during organizing campaigns
• Allowed union members to decertify their union, removing its right to represent them
• Established provisions for dealing with emergency strikes that threatened the nation’s health or security

This Act hold unions responsible to the membership, as well as America’s union workers responsibility to national security in times and national crisis. This is because many of this nations most important industries rely on skilled union labor. This Act was considered anti-union at the time and is still controversial.

1959 Labor–Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (or Landrum–Griffin Act)

• Guaranteed rank and file union members the right to participate in union meetings
• Required regularly scheduled secret ballot elections of union officers
• Required unions to file annual financial reports
• Prohibited convicted felons and Communist Party members from holding union office

In the shadow of McCarthyism, this Act settled, once and for all, that workplace democracy is NOT socialism or communism, as many anti-union profiteers had long accused them of being. 

Unions are often criticized as being “political”, but it’s in the political arena that union rights are kept and maintained. Many of these Acts were passed under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Administration, under his New Deal policies.

FDR ascended from American aristocracy, yet his New Deal programs made many wealthy and powerful men to accuse FDR and being a traitor to his class. There even many serious plots to depose FDR and replace him with a fascist, or puppet regime. These plots were heavily financed and well laid out by the powerful industrialists of the day (for more information, read Sally Denton’s The Plots Against The President).

All these laws have been under attack ever since, except those who wish to destroy organized labor learned lessons from union organizers and began multiple campaigns to control and manipulate information, fear, traditionalism, and righteous outrage of YOU, the individual worker and voter, to vote away your protections and rights.

As a union member, it is your duty, to yourself, your family, your union, and your country to be on guard against those who would spread “fake news”, lies, and conspiracies that may lead you astray.

Union members, as well as all Americans, know how to fight, and once committed to a fight, they are passionate, relentless, and strong in united voices. It’s important that we rally around the right things, based on solid facts, and act in solidarity by realizing the things that unite us far outweigh the the issues that our enemies use to try and divide us.

Working for a multi-billion dollar corporation puts you at an extreme disadvantage if, somewhere along the line, you and the company should have a disagreement. After all, the company employs a whole department of legal professionals in every legal area in which they presently or may operate. This vast network also has all the consultants, advisors, paralegals, and clerical staff to make sure he company is protected from any kind of malfeasance, negligence, or responsibility in the things it does to do business in the manner they see fit. This means externally, with customers, regulators, municipalities, and state and federal government officials; as well as internally, like dealing with unions, contracts, and employees.

In furtherance of the latter, the company’s legal teams weave a web, or “matrix”, of company policies, programs, and guidelines that you, as an employee, must follow when doing your job. Each one of these rules and regulations form a gauntlet you have to run each day as an employee, and are usually cloaked with religious fervor under the word and term, “SAFETY.”

Trouble is, almost NO HUMAN can know, adhere, and navigate this “matrix” and get any job done. The company knows this because they designed the system to ensnare you if something should happen while you are at work. No matter how conscientious, responsible, or cautious you may be, it only takes one slip to start a chain of actions that, in the end, will ALWAYS find YOU at fault.

If there is one and only one reason why it’s so important to have a union, this is it!

 Without a union, you can sue the company. In the end you’ll end up terminated, usually for no cause, and then spend the next decade fighting them in court until any settlement you reach will be a zero sum gain after the lawyers and creditors you couldn’t pay while fighting come looking to collect. This happens all the time, and especially so among large corporations.

A union will bring all the resources, local, national, and even international that they have in coming to your defense, and, if not successful, protect your job and assist the private counsel if you decide to fight on your own.

Take the time to study your Personal Safety Manual, and read up on the tenants of Human Performance and behavior based safety. After you get done with that, pull up the company’s Corporate Policy Letters, and take a closer look at the “safety” programs they have published for all employees too see.

The company is betting you won’t bother, which is why one of the first statements to employees is that ignorance of this material is no excuse for violating any of them.

Think about this the next time you tag something out, or put a wrench on a bolt, or have to fill out a form for line breaking or hot work. Confined spaces  and equipment operating procedures are perfect examples of signatures being more important than safety. How many liquid transfer papers do operators fill out for lime, urea, acid, oil, hydrogen, and other bulk deliveries.

Each one is a potential grenade that could go off in the hand of the person holding it.

Many of you may or may not know that our union has recently arbitrated a long-standing grievance involving an employee with twenty-five years of combined service with Allegheny Energy and First Energy. This employee worked shift work in plant operations for fifteen years, advancing all the way to the “A” Operator’s position, and then bid to maintenance for an additional 10 years.

This employee also witnessed the birth of UWUA Local 304 and served our union faithfully as a Steward and as the Secretary Treasurer. The trouble started when this employee was being “resource shared” at Fort Martin in September 2018.

The employee fell from a platform, injuring his shoulder. The employee reported it, as required. This touched off a series of events that were as unimaginable as they were unwarranted. That’s when the employee engaged our union by filing a grievance.

Previous to the accident, our union fought the company over the forced use of the now infamous “Form 709″. The union had argued that this medical related form that gave the company unfettered access to an employees’ ENTIRE medical history. The union fought and won in a previous arbitration that Local 304 members were EXEMPT from the offending form and made it clear that the company had no right to an employees’ entire medical history or even a specific diagnosis about a member’s condition when they use, they’re contractually guaranteed sick time (remember-others lost this defined benefit, replaced by PTO).

For some time after 2017, the company was still slipping 304 members the 709 form, and the employee/grievant received the disputed form and returned it as requested. Once the company had wrongfully granted access to the employees’ entire medical history, they denied the employee the overtime that he usually would’ve worked and later would not even allow the grievant to return to work.

Over the next two years, the union, on behalf of the grievant, and the company wrangled while the grievant was bounced from company doctor to company doctor. Two of the company’s doctors even cleared the grievant to return to work. Regardless of what each doctor’s notes said, none of them were good enough to allow the aggrieved employee to return to work. All the while, the grievant used up his full- and half-time sick pay, his PAD days, and all of his vacation days.  He was being starved out.

The grievant was allowed, briefly, to return to work. Another grievance was filed in an effort to get the employee paid for the work; plus, overtime he was wrongfully denied. Essentially, our union wanted the grievant ‘made whole”. The employee retired in disgust in 2020, but our union fought on.

In the end, our retiree/grievant Brother was MADE WHOLE as the union requested in its’ grievance. The award granted by the arbitrator reads as follows:

The grievance is granted. The Company failed to prove it had just cause for the de facto
suspension of the Grievant when it took him off work on October 30, 2018.
1. The Company is ordered to compensate the Grievant for economic losses he
suffered as a result of being removed from work.
2. The Grievant is to be compensated effective February 22, 2019 until the date he
returned to work, December 4, 2019.
3. Compensation includes lost pay at straight time for all regular hours of work that he
would ordinarily have been assigned, as well as the paid time off the Grievant used
to supplement his income, such as vacation and personal absence days.
4. Lost pay shall include any wage increases the Grievant would have received had he
not been removed from work and any lost overtime from February 22 to December
4, 2019.
5. The parties are to meet and attempt to determine the amount of compensation and
other make whole relief owed to the Grievant from February 22 to December 4,
2019. The Arbitrator retains jurisdiction for 90 days to resolve any issues as to this
remedy only.

So, what does old grievances from a now retired employee have to do with present day 304 members?

The answer is that the Utility Workers Union of America, through its’ Local 304, is always looking to protect your rights. In this case, it’s the right to keep your personal and private medical information in your control and not allow anyone, not even our employer, to abuse those rights for their own ends.

The grievance process is one of the most important tools we, as members, have in defining and enforcing our collective bargaining agreement, as this arbitration and award proves.

Our contract gives management certain rights to run the business as they see fit, most of which are codified under the section called “Management Rights”. However, even these broad and far-reaching rights do not give management the right to abuse our members rights, either collectively or by singling one of our own out.

As a union, UWUA Local 304 may not always win, but we will always fight for you!

Check out our latest Memorandum Of Understanding which gives our members added flexibility in work schedules! The entire document is available by going to “304 Resources“, check it out!

Your union decided to forgo the “tricks” and hand out treats to those in the neighborhood of our union hall. The kids were extremely grateful and happy to receive our offering! Happy Halloween!